A bold winter crop

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences must be in a state of tumult. With less than two months until nominations for the Academy Awards are due, all that's available for the choosing is a pack of less-than-stellar films. This is why the upcoming holiday season -which seems filled with choice offerings that are both critic and crowd-ready - will be an important time for the industry.

Luckily, this also means a crop of long-awaited movies for the rest of us. Starting this weekend with Oceans 11, here are some releases to look for over the next few weeks:

Vanilla Sky (Dec. 14)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Pen?©lope Cruz, Kurt Russell, Cameron Diaz, Noah Taylor, Jason Lee, Alicia Witt, Johnny Galecki, Timothy Spall, Tilda Swinton

The latest from director/screenwriter Cameron Crowe (Jerry McGuire, Almost Famous, Singles) has been at the forefront of pop media lately - real-life and screen-life have imitated one another in a romance between Cruise and Cruz. On screen, Cruise plays a rich womanizer in love with his best friend's girlfriend (Cruz). Cruise's luck see-saws quite a bit: after getting into a car accident that horribly scars his face, the girl of his dreams declares her love for him. Then his doctors say they can fix the physical damage, but lots of strange, terrible things begin to happen, and Cruise's life spirals beyond his, and everyone's, control.

Not Another Teen Movie (Dec. 14)

Starring: Joy Bisco, Lacey Chabert, Chris Evans, Joanna Garcia, Sam Huntington, Eric Jungmann, Mia Kirshner, Chyler Leigh, Ron Lester, Samm Levine, Cody McMains, Eric Christian Olsen, Paul Gleason, Jaime Pressly, Randy Quaid, Riley Smith

Not Another Teen Movie exists to poke fun at the genre of candy-colored flicks aimed at the teenybopper crowd like Ten Things I Hate about You, Road Trip, Clueless, Can't Hardly Wait, and Never Been Kissed. Janey Briggs is an aspiring artist who is outcast by her classmates for wearing glasses, a ponytail, and paint-covered overalls. Jake Wyler is the all-American football star who makes the bet to turn Janey into Prom Queen. Humor ensues.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Dec. 19)

Starring: Elijah Wood, Sir Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Conway, Hugo Weaving, Brad Dourif, Martin Csoka, Bernard Hill, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), John Rhys-Davies, John Noble, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban

This long-awaited film of almost three hours is the first of a trilogy bringing author of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary fantasy fiction novels to life. The Fellowship of the Ring tells how Gandalf the Grey (McKellan) discovers that the ring possessed by Frodo Baggins (Wood) is, in fact, ruler of the Rings of Power. A short synopsis for a film you'll probably enjoy tons more if you read the books after you're done with finals and before checking out the theaters.

How High (Dec. 21)

Starring: Method Man, Redman, Hector Elizondo, Fred Willard, Chris Elwood, Dennison Samaroo, Al Shearer, Lark Voorhies

A wintertime classic sure to leave you warm and fuzzy inside - directed by Bob Dylan's son, no less. In a case for alleged grade inflation at Harvard, two stoners (Redman, Method Man) smoke pot that increases their IQs to the point that they're able to get into the university. But when they run out of their superweed, they're left to fend for themselves. This one is (surprise, surprise) based on a story idea by Method Man and Redman themselves.

Kate & Leopold (Dec. 21)

Starring:Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman, Natasha Lyonne, Breckin Meyer, Liev Schrieber, Charlotte Ayanna, Bradley Whitford

In Kate & Leopold, Meg Ryan stars in yet another "cute" romantic comedy. This time, she's a modern-day executive who encounters Leopold (Jackman), who just happens to be the Third Duke of Albany and a charming 19th century bachelor. Leopold has ended up in present-day New York in a time travel experiment gone awry, and as she takes him on a tour of the 21st century, a time-crossed love affair becomes inevitable.

The Majestic (Dec. 21)

Jim Carrey, Bob Balaban, Gerry Black, Brent Briscoe, Karl Bury, Bruce Campbell, Jeffrey DeMunn, Amanda Detmer, Allen Garfield, Laurie Holden, Martin Landau, Manron Rifkin

Shawshank Redemption/The Green Mile director Frank Darabont works on his first film not based on a Stephen King story, or set in a prison. Self-described as "Capra-esque," The Majestic tells the tale of a blacklisted writer (Carrey) in 1951 who loses his memory in a car accident. He ends up with a fresh life in a fresh town, where he's mistaken as a soldier thought to have died in World War II.

Ali (Dec. 25)

Starring: Will Smith, Jon Voight, Jamie Foxx, Michael Bentt, Jada Pinkett Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Jeffrey Wright, Mario Van Peebles, Ron Silver, Nona Gaye, Giancarlo Esposito, Michael Michele, Joe Morton, Mykelti Williamson.

Michael Mann (The Insider) directs Smith as the Heavyweight Boxing champion once known as Cassius Clay. The man fired up professional sports in the '60s as an undisputed champion, a leader, and a media superstar. He soon dropped this slave name, dodged the draft, and became Muhammad Ali. This film documents the rise and fame of the legend.

The Royal Tenenbaums (Dec. 28, wide release)

Starring: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Al Thompson

In his first project since the wickedly funny Rushmore, director Wes Anderson tackles the topic of wacky geniuses once again - this time a whole family of them. Once upon a time, Royal Tenenbaum (Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Huston) had three children - Chas (Stiller), Richie (Wilson), and Margot (Paltrow). Then they separated. Chas is now an international finance wizard, Margot is an award-winning playwright, and Richie is a junior champion tennis player who won nationals three years in a row - but all of this brilliance has been overshadowed by two decades of petty failure and disaster at the hands of their father. The Royal Tenenbaums brings together the family of geniuses in a sudden, unexpected winter reunion.